the force of frequent repetitions permits the imagination to bypass the will, otherwise the will actively resists change to the self-image, the will tends to react by conscious counter arguing. But if a suggestion is indirectly delivered to the imagination without resistance, then the thought becomes inculcated through natural processes of association and amplification.
(Paulhus,1992 p. 573) Coué asked his patients to self-administer the technique and recommended that they let their mind drift to other thoughts while repeating positive statements, this would minimize resistance (Paulhus, 1992)
In his book, “Leader With No Title” Robin Sharma (2010) includes affirmations as one of the best ways of transforming limiting beliefs on his list of “7 Fundamental of Personal Leadership”.
Larsen (1990) explains that by repeating affirmations with conviction our mind begins to convince us that they are true. Others claim it doesn’t matter if we believe in the effect when we start practicing affirmations. This is the “action before conviction” principle. (Sharma, 2010) Although repeating affirmations might even seem ridiculous at first, it is important to start using them on a regular basis .Once we start experiencing the positive changes we will feel the conviction. (Cameron, 1992)
Some suggest that the effectiveness of affirmations lies in the fact that they create awareness and thus improve our ability to be aware of opportunities, they help you notice when something is important.
Affirmations work with repetitions and when practiced often, but is there any scientific evidence to demonstrate that?
Studies, scientific proof on affirmations.
There is very little existing research on the effect of affirmations.
In his recent book: “Success is a Decision” (2013, p. 103) David Fishman refers to a thesis on affirmations written by Margaret Horner (2004) in which she asked 10 people (5 women and 5 men) to reflect on their limiting beliefs. She further invited them to change these into positive affirmations to be repeated for a period of 8 weeks. Her experiment showed that those who repeated their affirmations on a regular basis felt more hope, more in control of their environment, and their behaviors changed as did their negative thoughts and emotions.
In another research study carried out by Philpot and Bamburg (1996) a group of 60 undergraduates with low self-esteem were requested to read 15 positive self-statements to themselves three times a day for two weeks. These self-statements were derived from (1) the participants most frequently occurring negative thoughts and (2) their less frequent positive thoughts, in such a way that their negative limiting beliefs were altered into positive statements. After two weeks of reading their personalized positive statements there was significant improvement in their self-esteem and they felt less depressed.
However, there is also scientific evidence questioning the effectiveness of affirmations. Experiments carried out by Joanne Wood and her team (2009) showed that while positive affirmations may help those with high self-esteem, they may be ineffective or could even be harmful to those with low self- esteem. The investigators found that if the low self-esteem group repeated positive affirmations against their own internal beliefs it could provoke an internal conflict and consequently cause them to feel worse.
A recent research study compares the effect of positive affirmations with interrogative self-talk and concludes that asking yourself a question is more empowering than making a positive statement. (Albarracin, Dolores and Ibrahim Senay, 2010) According to the research, participants were more likely to solve tasks successfully if they prepared for the task by asking themselves “will I?” as opposed to declaring: “I will”.
There is no real scientific proof that affirmations work so far, but with the advance of neuroscience, it may be possible to make further findings.
Affirmations as a coaching tool
What affirmation techniques can be used in coaching?
There is a large variety of recommendations on affirmation techniques, of which the following seem to be the most common and therefore they can be used effectively when coaching clients.
The coach can give some guidance to the client who wants to create affirmations:
Oral or written affirmations
Affirmations can be used in a spoken or written form. The client may repeat them to himself/herself by speaking out loud or by writing them down. There is power in writing the affirmations, the client is not only making them visible or real to himself/herself, there is a commitment associated to writing things down, like writing contracts.
“The mirror technique”
This technique is referred to in Louise Hay’s book “You Can Heal Your Life” (1984) as a powerful way of practicing affirmations.
The coach can ask the client to stand in front of a mirror, look into his/her eyes and repeat the affirmation. Looking deeply into your own eyes helps connect with your subconscious mind. Louise recommends to stop and repeat statements on a very regular basis, whenever you are in front of a mirror.
Other affirmation techniques
There are a variety of other techniques, for example visual affirmations or listening to affirmations and the coach could prepare some for the client’s session.